Here begins the newest version of Krillis, GMed by the newest version of Tadeusz.  :)

In reply to Tadeusz (msg # 1):

OOC: Version 3.4 or is it 3.9?


Its late at night.  You are marking up papers, occasionally chuckling madly at the bad English involved when you reach for a cup of coffee.  Weary fingers, and a fuzzy brain means it falls off the desk onto the floor.  Looking down, you see the puddle leak into the space between two plugs of a short extension cord.  Zaaap. Your laptop, hooked up to your power cord, is on fire.  You leap back...


=====================


Cool, dry air flows over your face.  Something flat crunches under  your shoulders.  Looking up, you see a white line against a green and gray sky.  The light is that of late evening.

Version Beta Alpha 2.4 - you can hardly count the last two. They were so short-lived. And the first should have probably stayed retired in that infinite space Beyond.

I smell the air first, and notice distinctly that it doesn't match what I'm used to. It's possible that the recent heat would lower the humidity some, but not by enough to distinguish it as "dry." When I open my eyes, my questions about the air fall away and are replaced by so many more that I suppress to avoid panic.

I sit up to see what was crunching under my shoulders and look around to get a better view of my surroundings. Another specific thing that I check is that white line - does it appear to have been made by a plane perhaps or is it simply part of the sky as well?

In reply to Krillis (msg # 3):

There is a faint, acrid tang to the air.  It smells of dust, and chemicals.

Underneath you is a thin layer of broken greenish-blue glass.  You're on one side of a vast valley, covered with a pane of glass that follows the ground.  On the far side is a jutting mountain that is massively craggy, going up into the cirrus clouds, and higher.  Extending off it horizontally is some cross hatch tower that must be huge for you to see it from twenty or more miles away.

There are splotches of trees in the valley.

Its two thumb widths wide, and just stays there.  It does not look like a contrail.

I cough reflexively at the acrid stench, and cover my mouth with my hand then my shirt.

My first objective is to get clear of this glass. I have suspicions that it is very closely linked to the acrid smell, and the body generally tells you the truth about things you don't want to be breathing.

Therefore, I head for the nearest patch of trees, which are hopefully away from the glass. Does the glass end at any point that I can see?

If there are trees growing from where the glass is, but there are trees farther away where no glass is, I start hiking towards the ones that are farther away without glass.

In reply to Krillis (msg # 5):

You climb a gentle rise across the cracking glass as it snaps and breaks underfoot to the light purple leaved trees.  As you crest the top of the mildly curved ridge, you can see that the trees are about two hundred feet tall.  There are nine of them, bunched together, and they sparkle purple.


At your feet, you can see a trail which leads off to the left.  It ends or starts with what looks like a recovery place for glass, as half of an acre has been removed.


Off to the right, a few hundred yards, you can see something cone shaped that is moving slowly.

Oh, wow. I'm tempted to panic, but I can't bring myself to worry in such a sight. It's not every day that you see trees in shades of purple and a magical land. For a moment, my only regret is that my footfalls aren't light enough to disturb the glass - wait a second - I look around for more disturbances in the glass surface.

Then, I look over at the cone-shaped thing that is moving. Does it appear to be mechanical or organic from here? I want to approach it, but focus my footfalls to be a gentle as possible to avoid breaking the glass anymore.

In reply to Krillis (msg # 7):

The glass does break under your feet, but your care makes it a lot less.  You approach the mechanical cone shape, and as you get closer,  you can see its engaging in repetitive actions.

I continue to approach the mechanical, cone-shaped, moving object in the distant. I focus on how large the object is, if it's manned, and what kind of motion it's making.

If it is manned, who or what is manning the machine?

If it is unmanned, does it appear to have a particular power source that I can tell from where I am?

Four feet tall, two wide at the base.  It is vacuuming a ten foot square, except for two notches in the side of the farthest side which are one foot square where it does not vacuum.  It shudders at it moves.  There is dust all over its once white exterior.

There is a metal antenna on top that sparks occasionally.


It is unmanned.

"Hey there, little fella." I announce, approaching it. I pat it on the top part, near the antenna but being careful not to be so rough as to damage it. "Looks like you and I are in something of a weird situation."

I am talking to it more for my benefit than due to expecting a response. It's a coping mechanism to stay cool - I manage it better when I talk through it.

Does the thing vacuum the same 10 square feet over and over again or is it 10 square feet at a time?

Assuming it doesn't do anything that I wouldn't expect a machine to (like respond), I hang out with it and hope that it either has a place it's programmed to return to or has an owner who will eventually come and check on it.

In reply to Krillis (msg # 11):

It stops when you address it.

"Greetings, Human.  I need repair.  It has been 342 cycles since my last repair.  It is a weird situation, indeed."


Same ten square feet over and over.


After a bit, you recognize what looks like the foundations of a room at the edge of its cleaning zone.  If the foundations had totally decayed into ruin from many, many decades....or more.

My skeleton attempts to leap out of my skin when the robot responds, and I can feel my heart rate rise. It takes a couple of breaths, but I slow it down and hope that the robot doesn't notice the sudden change.

"Greetings." That is the only reply I can muster before I gather myself mentally. The robot has been here for 342 cycles...years or days. Either way, that has been a while since a human has come and checked in on this particular machine. Waiting for help seems to be out of the question.

First, I want to ask the robot its name. "What should I call you?"

Then, I will proceed to communicate using whatever designation it gives me for a name, model, etc... "Do you have any information on the most recent history? What happened around here, and what is the glass all around us on the ground? Has it always been this way?"


I check myself finally to see if I'm dreaming, but realize quickly that I'm not. I remember my dreams frequently and have lucid dreamt in the past. There's no way that this is one of them...

In reply to Krillis (msg # 13):

The robot does not seem to notice.

"My owner called me 'CleanbotOne'.  I am a Near Corcidian built, Hammler Company, Small Household Self-Aware Robot for Light Use, Model #32."

"I do not pay attention to aspects out of my job.  No, it has not always been this way.  My last recording of Sir Vilhel Tejer, my owner may enlighten. I do hope so."

A panicked male voice with an odd accent speaks.

" Gasp. The rebels are bringing it down.  Lykon City is toast. No, Susie, no, get the boy and run. I'll meet you at the shelter, if...I love you.
"What should I do, Master? Can I help?" Its the voice of the bot but more clear.
"What? Uh, just clean this room until I get back." Door slams, and the sound of blaring sirens fills the air."

After hearing everything that CleanbotOne has to say, which is very unsettling, I decide to focus on the task at hand. While I need to find out what happened in more detail and find a safe place to be (out here in the open feels less safe by the minute), I can at least help this robot out and maybe it can help me, too.

"So, you do confirm that your programmed name is CleanbotOne, a Hammler Company Model #32 owned by a Sir Vilhel Tejer. Good, that saves me the effort to continue searching for you. Sir Vilhel Tejer willed you to me via his last will and testament before his timely demise. You are actually my property now, but I am not entirely sure that I understand your functions. Can you please review them for me before we head out to seek shelter?"

In reply to Krillis (msg # 15):

"Excellent, new Master." The robot sounds relieved.  "I am a Light Housekeeping model, tasked with cleaning of the house, cleaning of apparrel, minor mending, cooking, food presentation, nutrition optimization, tending of small garden plots or decorative stands, accompanying a human in shopping, or chaperoning of young females, or serving as a caddy.  In extremis, I  may act as a defender if ordered by my master.  However, my combat capabilities are limited to  non-lethal sonics."

"Master, I must report that I have severe degradation of my vaccuuming function, and my mobility function is significantly degraded as well.  My speed over interior unobstructed space is limited to three mph.  In general, I suffer degradation from ten to thirty percent of all functions."

"Excellent, indeed. Please refer to me as 'Mr. Wright' instead of 'Master'. Additionally, I will begin referring to you as Jeeves. Please reorient yourself to the new names. Now, we need to get to business of locating a suitable place to thoroughly check and repair you."

I look over Jeeves and sigh. He is certainly not in good shape, and that will have to be addressed eventually, but we'll need to settle this shelter problem first.

"Jeeves, we need to find shelter appropriate for a human. I'm afraid that your old home will not suffice. I was considering looking into travel to find something appropriate. Can you please tell me if you can navigate to any of the following: the nearest city, Lykon City, a neighbor's house, or the shelter that the late Sir Tejer referred to in your last interaction? I'm afraid I have become lost and am unfamiliar with the terrain here."

After I get this information, I open it up to Jeeves, "Do you have any other ideas about where a human could find shelter for the night, and maybe even gather some information on where we are?"

In reply to Krillis (msg # 17):

"Mr. Right, righty-ho, my name is Jeeves.  Lykon City is the nearest city." And it spins to face the craggy mountains in the midst of the glass. It pauses. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but Near Corcidian seems to have impacted on the former location of Lykon City.  Are my optical sensors working correctly?"

After that it tells you that it does know the route to the shelter for the Tejar Extended Family and Associates.

"I stand corrected. Your optical sensors do seem to be working well."

I take a mental note of the phrase 'New Corcidian' to ask Jeeves about on our walk. "Can you lead me to the shelter now? Unless there is some hidden cache of repair materials for you around here somewhere?" I look around for good effect.

If he does mention some hidden cache, I might look into actually trying to repair some simple parts for Jeeves; otherwise, I want to go ahead and start walking to the shelter at a speed slightly slower than Jeeves claims to be capable of moving.

In reply to Krillis (msg # 19):

"Thank you, Mr. Right."  And it leads you farther away from the Glass Valley.  After a bit, you can tell that the pasture land you're walking over is a former roadbed.  Jeeves takes you on a zig-zag course, following the paths of ancient streets, even when it would be simpler to just cut across a now empty lot.

You come to a white wall, thirty feet tall, and thick.  Its marked by cracks and impact craters but not nearly broken.

"West 72nd Street Gate is set to Lock Shut." And now that hementions it, you can see the outlines of a forty foot wide gate by thin lines in the wall.

I make no comment about Jeeves's course as he follows the former streets. It's strangely reassuring to see him follow the old rules, and it could be helpful information in the future. I wonder how far out his maps go - he might know about more shelters if this one is a bust.

"This is an unfortunate roadblock for us, Jeeves." I look around the wall to see if I can see any more creases - for a human-sized entrance instead of a larger one. I'm hoping for a way for people to get in in case they accidentally get locked out in case of emergency. No promises that I'd be able to get in that way, but it's worth a shot. At the same time, I ask Jeeves, "Do you know of another way in or is there a way for you to access the controls remotely to unlock the gate?"

Regardless, I realize that Jeeves might have issues about being left alone by his owner, so if I run into a situation where I need to enter a space that he needs to wait outside, let me know, because I will want to reassure him that I will return.

In reply to Krillis (msg # 21):

You spot a set of seams for a human sized door in the middle of the greater gate.

"The secondary portal has defaulted to Open on Request after no requests in 99 cycles." Jeeves sounds a bit surprised.  "Stupid door."

"Not stupid." A voice from the gate replies.
"Dumb as a doorknob." Jeeves snaps back.
  The door slides to the side, and you see a forty foot long white walled square sided tunnel leading to a white wall at the end.

I smirk slightly when Jeeves makes the joke. The smile originates less from how funny the joke and more from the fact that Jeeves is actually capable of it.

I invite Jeeves to follow me, and I proceed down the now-open path. "Jeeves, are you aware of the layout of this place? Additionally, do you have the capabilities of sensing human-sized lifeforms outside of visual range?"

In reply to Krillis (msg # 23):

"I have a basic level map.  Also, I have low power, extremely short range sonar which enables me to locate my human masters in the Tejar Household while in another room.  Also, as you had asked about Near Corcidian.  The name is because Lord Corcidian gave his asteroid in two parts, one larger part, called Far Corcidian, and the smaller part to the younger son, which was moved to near Lykon City, and hence became Near Corcidian."

You come to the end of the passageway, and the door on the end opens up.  Following down more roads, with some signs of surviving foundations, you come to a metal circular 'door' in the ground.  Its of brass.  On it reads 'Tejar Extended Family Shelter.'  Its half open.

It is concerning to see the door already opened. Perhaps they've already evacuated this spot and deemed it unsafe. But, at the very least, this could mean potential shelter while I try to figure out where I am and how to get back home.

If Jeeves can join me down the manhole, I invite him to come. Otherwise, I instruct him to rest up here while I go down to check things out. I want to reassure him that I will be back, be this the case. He's been abandoned before, and I don't want to cause him undue psychological strain - I know he's a robot, but still... it had to be rough to be alone for that long when his master said that he'd be right back.

In reply to Krillis (msg # 25):

He can manage stairs, even stairs covered with dirt and sand.  You descend and glowing spots on the walls appear that shed light.  Its no tech you're familiar with as it looks like a painted circle on the wall.

You come down fifty yards, and leave the dirt behind.  A five foot thick wall of the white wall material is open.  Entering it, you see a large common room dotted with tables and chairs, and non-functioning robots.

Glowing on the wall is a sign 'Tejar Clan Security Bunker." Two dozen doors line the walls.  And two main passageways, one on the the left, and the other on the right lead off from the room.

These walls are concrete.

As I walk these halls, I can't help to recall the Fallout games I have played and wonder if there's some sort of connection.

Once we're past the five-foot-thick wall, I ask Jeeves to please see if he can identify any lifeforms in the area. If he can, I want to call out to see if anyone is there. If he cannot, rather than picking a direction at random, I will look around to see if there's any map or indication of where these passages actually go.

A map on the wall of some ancient plastic shows a A hall, B main hall (which you're in), and a C hall.  Most of it is sleeping quarters and storage chambers.

"Down the right hall, I sense a Kreggor Company, modified bioform." Further questions reveal that its a six legged wolf that glows green at night.  "It is approaching at low speed."

Sounds like we're being stalked by some kind of wolf, then... They're normally pack animals, so hopefully we can win it over. I consider taking one from Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, but decide that might leave me too vulnerable. Instead, I want to improvise a weapon from something nearby. Preferably metal and hefty enough to pack a punch. Then, I back away from that direction with Jeeves. Hopefully, this will buy me some valuable time to get more information.

"Jeeves, is this wolf generally hostile towards people? Is there any way to command it or are we going to have to fight it off?"

In reply to Krillis (msg # 29):

"Kreggers were biological house defense systems and pets.  They would have command words hardcoded into their DNA.  I..."

He pauses.

"Von." And the Kregger comes out wagging its tail even as you pick up a small table by its single leg.  It walks up to you, and rolls over on its belly.

"You  have to have a calm, authoritative voice, in the octave of B, with no rise or fall of your voice, and the code word..." Jeeves explains.  "This is what the Tejers were as a class, Von's."

Its a long, thin beast with gray black fur with green tints in the fur.  It has a wolf like head larger than normal.

I've never been good with singing certain notes or anything like that, but I have matched pitch before.

Where I have shined, though, is practice training my dog, so I know how to give a command with the tone that I expect it to be done without being aggressive.

I try to match Jeeves' pitch and say, "sit" while I snap my fingers to give a non-verbal and verbal cue for the trick. At this point, I'm just trying to make sure he'll respond to my commands as well. It wouldn't hurt to have more company.

If the bioform ends up being docile with me, I command the dog to join me while we explore the facility in the direction the bioform came from.

OOC: Did it seem Jeeves referred to its name as Von? I didn't follow why the dog responded to that word.

In reply to Krillis (msg # 31):

You're able to match pitch, and the bioform rolls over for you as well.

Match Pitch 1@3, I assume, with +@1 for this time for 1@4.

You follow him down the hall until she leads you into a side door on the right.  This is halfway between the two major halls.  Inside, you see two pups.  She goes over to nose them, and looks back at you two with a neutral expression whereas before she was friendly.

The pups are about thirty pounds each, and awkward as if they have not gotten used to their second pair of legs yet.  And in the dim light of the room, you can see glowing green trees and flowers illuminated in the fur of the Kreggors.

Well...that's just adorable. However, I am not foolish enough to think that this wolf is going to be anything but at least cautious about its pups with me, given that we just met. And that's regardless of the octave I speak in.

"What commands are these bioforms programmed to respond to? Can they learn new ones?"

For the most part at the moment, I want to avoid the pups and wolf but walk tall, with confidence around the room. My current objective is ultimately to find out where people are, so I can reach them; however, food is a good secondary resource to find.

"Jeeves, can you please be on the lookout for anything that we can use to help repair you? You might have to walk me through it, but if you recognize any components you need, we should probably pick them up at least."

In reply to Krillis (msg # 33):

"They can be trained, but commands are a different thing.  I recall, 'guard', and 'sleep', and 'out'.  There were not many commands." Jeeves replies, thinking hard.

"I do have a diagnostic, but no self repair functions beyond the most simple.  But if I see a repair niche, I will point it out to you."

You walk out and further down the hall to Main Hall C.  Stepping into it, you see a pallet of 'Food Mix #4' stacked against the far wall.  It occurs to y ou to wonder why its not been taken when a small bot the size of a basketball on one of the small tables begrins to make whirring noises as it points a glass rod in your direction.

"Thank you, Jeeves. Hopefully, we can find some people soon and won't have to rely on starting our own pack."

When I enter Main Hall C, I do wonder why someone would leave food behind, as I'm pretty sure that people have left a long time ago or made a point to make this place look that way.

Then, I hear the sounds that indicate that something is charging up. By the time I notice the glass rod and associate it with the sound, all I have time for is to hope that my reflexes are fast enough as I dive to the ground to avoid behind hit.

If I survive the next few seconds, and it turns out the rod was a weapon, I want to improvise my own weapon in the room and attempt to smash the glass rod.

In reply to Krillis (msg # 35):

You barrel into Jeeves, and are disentangling yourself when you hear a zap.  Falling down, you feel pain on your left arm.

Your shirt is on fire!

Stop, drop and roll is mixed with Jeeves patting at you.  The heavy smacking by Jeeves hurts worse than the fire.  You're now not on fire, and a quick exam shoes a few square inches of fabric loss, and a second degree burn of an inch across on your ribs.

You grab a small stool and hurl it like a grenade at the zapper which is whirring up again, but louder this time.  It crashes near, but misses, you think.  You toss another stool and the bot burns it out of the air so that it falls in flaming pieces on the other side of the room.

Its whirring up again....

"Jeeves, break its weapon!"

I try to find more things around me to throw at it to distract the robot. Hopefully, I can get it to attack a flying object again instead of either of us.

In reply to Krillis (msg # 37):

The defense bot ignores Jeeves, at least this time, and Jeeves does as you command.

"It is done, Mr. Right."

"I'll, I'll kill you, I'll murderize you, you ain't seen nothing yet..."  Another voice from inside the room with Jeeves...

"No need for any murderizing. I was just defending myself and Jeeves had no say in what he did. It was my command. Who is there? Who are you?"

I try to find the source of the noise. Is it so dark that I can't see where it's coming from or is it through some audio system?

Its the defense bot. Or at least the sound is coming from it.

"I'm the Grand Lord of Tejer, the Big Kahuna, the Great Pebble, the ....the....the...Maaaaaan.  You are a thief."

I put my hands in the air immediately and drop my weapons. "Jeeves, stop attacking and step back."

"I completely agree to an extent and I apologize. I thought it was salvage, not theft, but I'm happy to return your property if you can prove that it's actually yours. Can we have this discussion in a setting not at gun-point?"

In reply to Krillis (msg # 41):

"Mmmmm, aaaah, well, sure.  I was left in charge of the Clan Compound, and have waited here since.  Quite...ah, umm, anyways....and since its in here, and was guarded, until your bot...."

"I was a Tejer Clan bot until given to this man."  Jeeves says.

"Right. So clewly, clawly...it's mine.  But y'know."

I nod, feigning understanding for now.

"Jeeves, don't question things for the time being. I need to talk to this person."

Then, to the man over the intercom, "Please, come out so that we can talk face to face. On your terms. I am only looking to understand where I am and how to survive for now. But that doesn't mean that I can't be valuable to you. Once property is appropriately returned, maybe we can talk about how we can help each other."

In reply to Krillis (msg # 43):

A couple minutes later and a man in a powered wheelchair comes rolling in.  He's bald, and covered except for his head in a white integument much too large for just a human body.  Lights and colored fluids in tubes cover the exterior of the armor.

He's crying.

"A human, a real human.  Its been so long." You notice his speech has cleared up.

I start to tear up a little bit too, but fight to keep my composure. My priority now is to secure shelter, fulfill my basic needs, and get information. "Yeah, real human just like you. What's going on in this place? Where is everybody, and how have you survived so long on your own?"

In reply to Krillis (msg # 45):

"They left.  Some wanted to go Deep.  Build a new civ a mile underground.  Others wanted to jump off and find a different asteroid with Precursor gravity engines on it.  I'm not sure what they decided as the two hundred of them were still arguing when they left." He breathes in shakily.  "Someone needed to stay behind, to pass on messages, to guard the place, just in case they had to come back.  And I, I was desperately ill.  Body broken by an accident in the Cataclysm.  So they put me in a cryochamber, had the autodoc work on me, and promised to get news back in a year or two."

I feel like I already know what the answer was be, but I gulp and summon the will to ask - and perhaps be there for him - regardless. "How long ago was that, then? Have you heard back yet?"

"I've slept in cryo many times.  Its been...forty years or so. I think.  I lost track that one time....well, i thought the Precursors were talking to me.  I went mad."

"The Precursors...?" I wait for him to continue, but after time, I say, "Look, I don't know a lot about what has happened or how I even got here, but I am now and I'm here to help. To do that, I need to know what we need, how to get it, and what exactly happened here."

In reply to Krillis (msg # 49):

"There are ancient bits of technology left over from what we call the Precursors.  We found the gravity engines when we came in the Ships to this place, or at least thats the commonly accepted story.  Some say we are the Precursors, we just forgot.  And we shattered a planet in our forgetting.  Anyways, we have all these asteroids, and we can move them some, with tech we learned from the Precursor gravity engines, but not as good.  And the nearby asteroid crashed into ours in an act of war, a cataclysm that we have not recovered from.  I wonder why those idiots on the other asteroid thought to make such war....they had to know that the damage from such a collision would be worse than the harshest tyranny our asteroid could force.  There used to be a hundred thousand people in the city, but now....?"

I've been trying to rely on my understanding of the known world, but that isn't working, so I toss it out while I digest what this stranger says to me. I turn my mind to the area of my life that might have something useful to assist in understanding this insanity: science fiction.

"Two things. First, are there any people still left, here or elsewhere? It sounds like it was similar to a slave revolt, where one planet of workers attacked a planet of aristocracy. Second, have you ever heard of Earth? That's where I am from and I would very much like to get back."

In reply to Krillis (msg # 51):

"Earth?" He blinks.  "Oh, the Lost Home.  That is a legend, from even before the Precursors.  Earth and the Great Empire of Man.  And the rise of the Gods who were the Precursors who broke it, the Empire.  Or came after it.  Or were just in the area.  I mean, we're talking like twenty thousand years ago if the ancient legends are true.  Most scientists and historians say its a fairy tale.  The ancient home of Man is Kulturny Sas is what most people thought.  The Ships came from there to here.  We don't know why."

He gets a trifle huffy when you blame his side for being aristocrats who enslaved others.  It does seem to fit the available evidence.

I start to think that I've gotten all of the information about my situation that I can out of this man, but there was one moment that he said something I still want to press. "You said that you thought that the Precursors were speaking to you one time, as you were awake between your cryo-sleep. Can you tell me more about that?"

After he finishes explaining this moment, I want to change toward something more productive. "There has to be a way for us to try to join up with those who left you here decades ago. I mean, we have an entire planet to scavenge for what we need, right? There must be enough parts to get a ship together so that we can get out and find everyone together."

He laughs shortly, and weakly gestures you to follow him.  He takes you down one corridor, into a room, and down a secret ramp that opens at the back of the room, and into a corridor that runs the opposite way until he gets to a dim part of the corridor.

"Lights."

And with a snap, light appears.  And on the left wall are various bits of highly complicated math, and on the right wall are things that might be math.

"I was writing on the left wall, convinced that they were answering on the right wall, but now I'm sure I was just writing both but I was sleep riding and writing."

"Well, now that there's more than just you here, there's a chance to prove if it's madness or not. How could they write on the wall from off-planet, though?"

While it is probably beyond my capabilities, I want to try to figure out the writing on the right wall first, then the left. Can I make heads or tails of it?

In reply to Krillis (msg # 55):

He explains what he can of the one wall....its Tensor Analysis, Nonlinear Differential Equations, and Topology.  The other wall has some sort of Chaotic Topology he says, but he admits he does not understand it, or this part, or that part.

Basically, you can handle this if you find calculus easy and boring.